NASCAR, the most popular American car racing series, is now edging towards greater global recognition. The expanding range of audiences calls for greater coverage of the motorsport. That is why NASCAR struck a crucial media rights deal at the end of 2023 to spread the sport into four media houses. The profitability picture may have had a bigger scope, though, as president Steve Phelps explained.

In November 2023, NASCAR joined hands with four distribution partners- FOX Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon’s Prime Video, and TNT Sports, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery. The first two have been in the picture for ages, while the latter two are the newbies bringing more to the table. The historic agreement increased profits substantially. If not for 2022 conditions, Phelps believes they would have been greater.

NASCAR could have named a higher price

The 38 NASCAR Cup Series races get every diehard racing fan glued to their screens. That is why four media giants put their heads together to bring these races to people who live and breathe racing. Steve Phelps recently talked about the TV deal reached between NASCAR and the distributors in a podcast episode of the Sports Business Journal.

The media rights deal was concluded at $7.7 billion, including the previously announced $1.1 billion agreement with CW. Phelps outlined why this figure, great as it is, could not go bigger. “I would say since the fall of ‘22, there was kind of this switch…a switch from Wall Street, the Street decided that they were not looking subs anymore, they were looking profitability. So that switch really took the air out of the balloon for the media rights market standpoint.”

Journalist Adam Stern reposted the SBJ video on X and tweeted: “@StevePhelps says that @NASCAR may have been able to get 15% more for its TV deal if the media market hadn’t changed so dramatically in late 2022, but that the series still got what it needed to ensure the industry is “continuing to flourish.”

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According to Phelps, the media rights landscape was ‘white-hot’ before 2022. But times change, and NASCAR needs to adjust accordingly. “I think the market is still challenged…with that said, there really is no better place to reach a significant live-viewing audience as there is in sports. If you’re a must-have sports, like we are, as shown through our deal, you can weather the storm.”

After the deal, all four media outlets will share the race coverage among themselves.

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Media partners will bring NASCAR to every race addict’s doorstep

NASCAR is growing wings and flying to faraway lands, and the new media partners are making that possible. Fox’s reach is the maximum, covering 14 Cup Series races including the Busch Light Clash, Daytona 500, and All-Star Race. They also have exclusive claims over the entire Craftsman Truck Series from 2025 to 2031. NBC will be broadcasting the final 14 races of the season, culminating with the Championship race.

The new players on the scene bring novel goodies to the table. Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream five Cup races for the first time for direct consumers. Warner Bros. Discovery will be heralding Amazon’s races and the next five races. They will be simulcast on TNT and streamed on the Max service.

Steve Phelps aptly said regarding the deal: “We want to meet race fans where they are or potentially where they are. We think this group does exactly that for us.”

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